filtration

[dannyboy]

Sorry if I'm asking repeat question. I have 75 gallon being cycled and was wondering if I get the "coralife super skimmer" the one rated for 125 gallon tank and build a nice refugium out of a 29 gallon tank with 4-5 inches of live sand, will this be all the filtration the 75 will need? fowlr i'll be going.

 

[Piggy]

Your LR will act as a filter. 1-2 pounds per gallon.

 

[Doc]

I like to use carbon to polish the water. put it in a media bag and in the sump. Also, if you are doing a FOWLR, chances are you will get high phosphates. Reef tanks need to have low phosphates less than .25

FOWLR tanks can get higher without a problem. Same with nitrates. your reef tank should be less than 20ppm and FOWLR tanks can get up to 60 ppm without a problem. if your phosphates get too high, you will need to include a phosphate remover in a media bag in your sump as well

-Doc

 

[reeffreak]

As long as your main tank has at least 1lb of live rock per gallon then the fuge and skimmer is all you will need for filtration.I agree with occassionally polishing the water with carbon or better yet Chemipure Elite a week once a month.

 

[dannyboy]

awsome, killer info on that one. It's gonna take me some time to get all the live rock I need but still need at least a month of cycling so I'll build the sump tomorrow, order the skimmer, over flow box in on the way, and pick up some nice chunks of LR to get prepped. I am getting pretty excited to get these in motion. Was a little worried at first and almost gave up and did another fresh water tank but you all have been so helpful I think I can do this. I'll try gettin a good picture of my cichlid tank so you can see I'm not a complete noob.

 

[fatman]

Just watch your feeding levels and you will do fine. There is no reason for any high levels of phosphate or dissolved organic compounds or resultant nitrates with a skimmer, live rock and sand deep sand bed level as long as you do not get ridiculous with your fish load and with excess feeding. Check your input levels for nitrogen and phosphates if not using RO or DIO water. Do not get carried away with Carbon use. With a tank your size about 5 table spoons for 3 or 4 days a month is more than adequate to remove any normal levels of color from dissolved organics not removed by skimmer. Your live sand will work better and better as time goes on. It can take up wards of 18 months to fully mature a deep sand bed. Avoid sea star wrasses and Gobies if you expect heavy levels of food to be produced by your sand bed. The above creatures eat a lot of plankton and other assorted food from sand beds. Stick with sand sifting snails, worms and small bristle worms to keep your sand bed well turned as they eat detritus and bacteria, the bacteria eaters promote continual fresh bacteria production. Live sand from various sources make for a better Deep Sand Bed than sand from a single source, so try to talk reefers out of a little of their live sand as well as occasionally reinoculating the sand with new critters.